3 young boys shot to death in Clermont County, sheriff says
CLERMONT COUNTY, Ohio (WXIX) - Three children under the age of 8 are dead in Clermont County Thursday night, according to the sheriff’s office.
The boys, all brothers, are ages 3, 4 and 7.
The shooting happened shortly before 4:15 p.m. at a home near the corner of Laurel Lindale Road and Clermontville Laurel Road.
Around that time, a unknown woman called 911 screaming that “her babies had been shot.” Three minutes later, a separate caller who had driven by the scene told the 911 call taker that they’d seen an underage girl running down the road saying “her father was killing everyone.”
Responding sheriff’s deputies found 32-year-old Chad Doerman, whom county records list as the owner of the home and whom the sheriff’s office confirms is the boys’ father, sitting on a step outside.
The deputies also found the three boys unresponsive in the yard with gunshot wounds. They tried life-saving measures until Monroe Fire/EMS arrived, but the boys died at the scene.
The boys’ mother, a 34-year-old woman, was also outside the home when deputies arrived. She had a gunshot wound to the hand. EMS transported her to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where Clermont County Sheriff Robert Leahy informed her that her boys had died.
Deputies detained Doerman without incident. He is at the sheriff’s office being interviewed as of this writing.
Investigators found no signs of forced entry, and the sheriff’s office is not searching for any other suspects. There does not appear to be a threat to the community, the sheriff’s office says.
The Clermont County Coroner arrived at the scene around 7:30 p.m. The bodies of the boys are being taken to the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office for autopsies.
Dispatch initially confirmed a man had opened fire at the Monroe Township Fire Station located across Clermontville Laurel Road, but the sheriff’s media release does not mention it.
The investigation is ongoing.
New Richmond Schools Superintendent issued a statement Thursday night saying, “Our hearts are once again broken tonight as we yet again ask the community to lift up those affected by this horrific incident.”
Grief counselors will be available at Monroe Elementary on Friday.
A New Richmond Middle School student died in a quadruple-murder-suicide in February.
UPDATE: the Coroner is now on scene where three children were shot earlier today, according to the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office. A neighbor tells me she say the three children playing in the yard a couple hours before the shooting. @FOX19 pic.twitter.com/09eAkUHCZ2 — Courtney King (@CourtReportKing) June 15, 2023
“This place is always quiet. It’s a great neighborhood. Lots of kids playing at the park up there,” said neighbor Dan Thomas. “Never anything like this. Never.”
Thomas says he got home shortly after the shooting and couldn’t pull into his driveway because of the police presence.
“That’s horrible. That’s uncalled for. I don’t know what’s going on in this world. You get that mad, you walk away,” Thomas said.
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Source: FOX19
